BENGALURU: Cybercrime fraudsters involved in investment scams are laundering illicit money through online gambling platforms to evade police detection. Investigators say there is a growing link between scammers and online gambling operators, with fraudulent funds being diverted as gambling winnings.
A senior cybercrime officer revealed to TNIE that fraudsters transfer scam proceeds to winners on gambling apps as a way to obscure the money trail. In return, they receive cryptocurrency, primarily USDT. A recent case in the city involved the laundering of nearly Rs 20 lakh, funnelled through a third-layer mule account into 600-800 individual bank accounts.
Each transaction. ranging between Rs 2,000 and Rs 2,500, was carried out using a single debit, multiple credits (SDMC) mechanism. The officer said these transactions make it extremely difficult to trace the origin of funds. During investigation, we often find the money ending up in the accounts of unsuspecting gambling winners, whose bank accounts then get frozen.
Explaining the modus operandi, the officer said cyber fraudsters first deceive victims with fake investment schemes, and the proceeds of these crimes are transferred into pooling accounts operated by online gambling apps, from where they are routed to bank accounts of gamblers, as a form of laundering.
Police also found that gambling app operators typically receive money via QR codes, and issue virtual accounts to users for betting transactions. Many illegal betting platforms rely on mule accounts for their operations, and some groups may have even acquired RBI approvals to run payment gateways, which are now suspected to be used for laundering black money.
According to investigators, less than 10 per cent of revenue is spent on prize payouts. Around 20-25 per cent goes toward backend operations and managing mule accounts. The remaining 55-60 per cent is believed to be pure profit, highlighting the massive earnings potential of this illicit ecosystem.